The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-12-24
EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL UPON
HEALTH.

lie, but of the legislative mind as to
the evils of alcohol, in its use as a
beverage. Whether states and coun-
tries are moved to restrictive measures
as sanitary, q moral, an economical
or social question, it is not always
easy to decide. The general use of
beverages having alcohol in them does
so much harm in each of these direc-
tions that 1t is not always easy to single
out any one as the operative and pro-
pelling cause.
This movement is not confined to
our American States.
At its last session, one of the most
stringent measures of the German
Rechstag was the tax levied upon al
cohol. 1t was, perhaps, the strongest
sanitary measure of the session, and
must tend to diminish the use of al
coholic drinks. The alcohol tax
amounts to fifty pfennigs, or about
twelve cents of our money, per litre
Cor quartz of pure alcohol manufact-
ured in Germany. For spirits intro
duced from abroad it is one hundred
and eighty marks for one hundred
kilograms. Alcoholic fluids used for
industrial purposes, or for medical and
scientific purposes are exempted.
While there is great doubt as to the
ultimate benefits of taxation for reve-
nue. as Il Temperance measure, it il
believed that it will promote Temper
ance and health among the lower
classes of the people. In Switzerland.
some time since, bill was drafted by
the Government and passed by the
Bundesrath, and now has been sub
nlitted to the vote of the people. 1t
was feared that this bill, which gave
to the state monopoly of the business,
would not be sanctioned by the popu-
lar vote. But the vote stood 267, 255
yes, and 1873, 122 no. This will put a
higher price on alcoholic drinks, and
place the regulation of the traffic di-
rectly under state control
An important feature of the Swiss
Alcohol act is that ten per cent. of the
net revenue which the cantons will
gain from the alcohol tax is to be spent
in unfolding to the people the effects
of alcohol In its sanitary feature it is
much superior to the German law, and
promises to be of value 'in combating
the dreadful alcohol plague in that
country"
Some time since important legisla-
ton was had in France on the basis of
startling statistical facts as to the in-
crease of alcoholic consumption; and
the use there of intoxicating drinks
goes far to show that wine-producing
and beer-guzzling populations are by
degrees brought to indulge in general
alcoholic excess.
What has happened in several of the
States of our I'm; on is more familiar to
our readers. 1t is ghost to political
parties that will not down at bidding.
1t involves great principles and inter-
ests in political economy, in finance, in
the indispensable moralties of free
government, and in all that relates to
the physical, intellectual and moral
welfare of mankind.
III wv NloCtiootOllo lllttb tIC us lUcNlIs
able as they are important, the effect
of alcoholic beverages upon health
can not but be regarded as rightly
| prominent 1t can not he doubted
that the practice and prejudice of the
medical profession has been very
strongly in favor of a very general use
of alcoholics as a medicine, and that
most of the professions believed the
moderate use of these stimulants us q
beverage to be commended and ap
proved. The fact of their universal
use at the fountains of medical learn
ing and by most physicians in all
their social and convivial Assem- blies,
could not but have its influence on their
judgments. Some. like DIR. Rush, had
sounded the note of alarm. and q few
had been bod enough to seek the re-
striction of their use.
But twas reserved for modern chem
istry and for the methods of numeri-
cal facts and clinical experience to
attempt to define the position of the
alcoholic drinks as medicines and as
foods.
1t was at once agreed that these
drinks might contain some nutrients
as furnished by malt or essential oils
or fruit juices; but inasmuch as their
use Is for the alcohol they contain and
all other contents can be more easily
furnished in some other way, the main
question was and is, whether alcohol
is disposed of in the system in accord
with any of the known laws of ali
mentation. In the discussions and
counter-opinions of chemists and
clinicians both sides h ave had some
strange surprises. AS asserted foods
they were first examined in the light
of the convenient divisions of nitrogen
GUS and carbonaceous foods or such as
aid in construction or develop into heat
and force.
But it was in vain that alcohol was
searched for amid the plastic elements
of nutrition. 1t did not contain any of
the materials of the body or allow of
transformation into them, by any of
the known laws of the albuminoid
foods. 1t was still more of a surprise